War Torn.

Casualties

32 people were shot in a hail of gunfire over a three-day span.  The 20 separate incidents left 7 people dead.

These kinds of headlines are all too familiar when your country has been at war with two countries for nearly 10 years. We’ve become so numb to it that these reports are just temporary hiccups between the gossip and sports columns.  Because shootings and killings go hand in hand with war, the shock and emotional attachment has all but worn off.  However the shootings that I described above did not happen during a combat mission, those 32 people we’re wearing army fatigues and not one of those 7 bodies were found on a street in Afghanistan.

They died in Philadelphia.

That’s right.  Over the course of one single weekend in June all of those people were shot.  One man was killed sitting at a bar after work when another man – who was removed from the bar for refusing to stop smoking – stood in front of the building and just opened fire through the window.  Another young father was shot as he tried to break up a fight between his son and a group of older teenagers who were jumping him. The only “good” news was the fact that more people weren’t killed.

Rapper and North Philadelphia native, Meek Mill proclaimed, “Philly is the new Iraq” and in 2002, Jay-Z wrote an entire song drawing parallels between young men in the ‘hood and soldiers sent off to war.  Many people simply dismiss these songs and lyrics as obscene but the words that are spoken are just as serious as the bullets that fly through the air.  Even on the absolute worst day in Beverly Hills, no resident would ever liken his or her neighborhood to a war zone.  But if you walk out of your front door every single day fearing that you might get shot, how could you come to any other conclusion?  But I’ll draw another parallel between the soldier and the urban youth that might be as disheartening as the actual violence.

We don’t give a f**k.

Steve Jobs’ death gets national media attention and Kim Kardashian’s wedding simply couldn’t be avoided.  People were up in arms during the NFL lockout but don’t lift a finger when a soldier dies in Iraq or a kid is killed on Broad Street.  Because you’re privileged enough not to be affected, you conveniently turn a blind eye to these war zones.  Luckily you won’t have to worry about a RPG hitting your car but localized violence has a way of making its presence felt if its neglected for too long… with a ski mask and a gun in your face.

Give a f**k.  It’s your community too.